what does occipital lobe do

The occipital lobe is a region of the brain responsible for visual processing, including color, form, and motion. It plays a crucial role in visual perception, visual memory, recognizing familiar places and faces, and language and reading. The occipital lobe is associated with visuospatial processing, distance and depth perception, and creating an ongoing visual map of data taken in by the retinas. Damage to the occipital lobe can result in difficulties with visual perception, such as locating objects in the environment, identifying colors, recognizing words, and reading and writing. It can also lead to visual illusions, hallucinations, and word blindness. The primary and association visual cortex are the two functional units of the occipital lobe, responsible for processing visual information from the retina and turning it into forms that the rest of the brain can use.